Vehicle battery construction



Patented Mar. 21, 1939 PATENT OFFICE VEHICLE BATTERY CONSTRUCTION JosephGalamb, Detroit,

Motor Company, Dearborn,

of Delaware Mich, assignor to Ford Mich., a corporation ApplicationOctober 19, 1936, Serial No. 106,398

2 Claims.

The object of my invention is to provide a vehicle battery with meansfor conducting the gases therefrom to a point spaced from the battery.In the past it has been usual practice to provide vehicle batteries withfiller opening caps having a small air vent therein whereby the gasesproduced when the battery is being charged may escape. This constructionis satisfactory where the battery is placed underneath the car body, asthe fumes and acid vapor are discharged beneath the car and thus causeno appreciable damage. However, thevtrend in automobile design is tolower car bodies and consequently the floor boards of the modernautomobile are quite close to the ground. The chassis frame, which informer days had a depth of as much as ten inches, is now sometimesconstructed of rectangular tubing which is built into the body structureand has a' depth of only four or five inches. In all chassis the frameor body supporting member is very shallow in order that the minimumground clearance may be maintained and still have the floor boards ofthe car kept as low as possible. I

Due to this shallow frame construction now universally employed, thereis no long'ersufficient depth for the battery beneath the floor boardsof the car. The battery has, therefore, been placed in the enginecompartment upon a shelf which extends forwardly from the front face ofthe vehicle dash. The disadvantage of this location is that the gasesdischarged from the battery, together with small amounts of acid in thefumes, collect on the engine and cause the various motor accessories torust. The object of my invention is, therefore, to provide a simple andeffective means for conducting the gases from the battery to a pointbeneath the frame of the Vehicle and thereby prevent rusting of theengine parts due to this cause.

A further object of my invention is to provide a single manifold that isfastened over the top of the battery, which manifold forms a cap foreach of the filler openings of the battery cells. The removal of thissingle manifold will thus allow all three cells to be inspected.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in thearrangement, construction and combination of the various parts of myimproved device, as described in the specification, claimed in myclaims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view through the engine compartment of amodern motor vehicle having my improved battery installed therein.

Figure 2 is, in part, a transverse sectional view through the threecells of the battery, showing the co-operation between my improvedmanifold and the top of the battery, and

Figure 3 is a sectional view, line 33 of Figure 2.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, 1 have used the reference numeralI to indicate the frame of a motor vehicle, which frame has a motor IImounted in its forward end. A dash I2 extends upwardly from the frame atthe rear of the motor II and a shelf I3 is recessed in the upper portionof the dash I2 at one side of the motor II upon which shelf a battery I4is located. The shelf I3 forms a pocket for holding the batl5 tery. Arectangular frame I5 of angle sections fits down over the top edge ofthe battery I4 and holds the battery down against the shelf I3 by meansof a pair of bolts I6.

The battery I I is of conventional form having a case I'I formed of arubber composition with the battery cells moulded integrally therewith.A group of plates I8 fill each of the battery cells and a cover plate I9formed of hard rubber forms an enclosure for the top of each cell, as inthe conventional battery. Each of the cover plates I9 is provided with acentral threaded opening 20, these openings formerly receiving fillercaps to form closures for the openings. However, in my improvedconstruction a single manifold extends over the three openings to form aclosure for all three cells.

The manifold comprises a tube 2I which is formed of hard rubber andwhich extends over the three openings 20. Sleeves 22 are mouldedintegrally with the tube 2I and project transversely from the ends andfrom the center portion, respectively, of the tube. The upper end ofeach sleeve 22 communicates with the opening in the tube 2I by means ofa relatively small vent 23, which vents are formed in the wall betweenthe upper end of the sleeve 22 and and the bore of the tube 2I. It willbe noted that this wall is not flat but tapers downwardly in a conicalshape so that drops of acid which may collect 5 thereon will drip offand thereby be prevented taken upon the 5 from entering into the tube2|.

It will be noted that a shoulder 24 is formed around each sleeve 22 atits juncture with the tube 2|, which shoulders bear against soft rubbergaskets 25"to form a seal between each cover I9 and the adjacent sleeve22. A plug 26 is cemented into one end of the tube 2I and a soft rubberhose 21 is cemented into the other end of this tube, the hose 21extending down from the which the studs 30 project so that a nut 3| maybe screwed down over the upper end of each stud to clamp the channel 28and manifold ,2! in position over the top of the battery.

When it is desired to add water to the battery, the two nuts 3| areremoved and the channel 28 and manifold 2| lifted bodily from the top ofthe battery, thereby leaving the three cells exposed for inspection oraddition of water.

Among the many advantages arising from the use of my improvedconstruction, it may be well to mention that all gases which are emittedfrom the battery plates are conducted through the hose 2'! to a pointbelow the frame of thevehicle. This prevents acids from collecting uponthe engine and causing same to rust. Fur-s ther, it will be apparentthat, due to the relatively large size of the tube 2|, all acids whichmay escape through the vents 23 will collect on the walls of the tube 2|and, when charging has ceased, will drip back through these openingsinto the battery. Thus there is practically no loss of acid from thisbattery. In this respect the construction is much superior to theordinary battery cap because the acid which e'scapes through the ventholes is sprayed on the top of the battery and can never re-enter same.

Some changes may be made in the arrangement, construction, andcombination of the various parts of my improved device without departingfrom the spirit of my invention, and it is my intention to cover bymyclaims such changes as may reasonably be included within the scopethereof.

I claim as myinvention:

1. A device of the character described comprising, a storage batteryhaving three cells therein, each of said cells having a filler openingsaid battery,

in the upper cover thereof, a hard rubber tubular manifold extendingacross the top of said cells, said manifold having three sleevesextending laterally from points spaced therealong, said sleevesprojecting into the respective filler openings of said battery, aflexible rubber gasket disposed around each of said sleeves between theadjacent cell and said manifold, whereby all of the gases from saidcells will be conducted into said manifold, a bracket of channelcross-section extending across said battery and tightly fitting aboutsaid manifold, means associated with said bracket for securing saidmanifold within said channel, means associated with said said channeldownwardly towards said battery, whereby said manifold will bedetachably secured intoposition over said cells compressing saidgaskets, a closure for one end of said manifold, and a flexible rubberhose extending from the other end of said manifold to a position spaceda material distance from said battery, for the purpose described;

2. A device of the character described comprising, .a storage batteryhaving a plurality of cells therein, each of said cells having a filleropening in the upper cover thereof, a hard rubber tubular manifoldextending across the top of said cells, a plurality of sleeves mouldedintegrally with said manifold which project laterally from points spacedtherealong, each of said sleeves being in communication with saidtubular manifold by means of a relatively small vent opening in themanifold, a bracket of channel cross-section extending over the top ofsaid battery and tightly fitting about said manifold, means for securingsaid manifold in said bracket, aflexible gasket disposed between eachbattery cell and said manifold, means for clamping said channel andmanifold across'the top of the battery in position so that said sleeveswill extend into the respective filler openings of the battery andcompress said gaskets whereby an air-tight seal is established betweeneach cell and the adjacent sleeve, and a tube extending from saidmanifold to a position spaced a material distance from for the purposedescribed.

JOSEPH GALAMB.

battery for drawing

